[SOLVED] Kubuntu fails to start

[davinci314]

Im dual booting kubuntu 9.04 and XP as I acclimate to linux. Recently, I have been unable to start kubuntu. I can reach the login screen, but after entering my password, the splash screen just loads the first 3 icons and simply stops. I restarted in recovery mode and tried everything there. I tried to clear space, but the hard drive is less than half full. I tried to repair packages and I ran a file system check. It gave me the message:

/dev/sda3:169536/1613824 files (0.7% non-contiguous), 2589963/6446081 blocks

I dont know what that means. Is the 0.7% of non-contiguous files messing up kubutu?

Any suggestions?

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

No, the fsck output looks fine.

More likely is a video driver problem. Since you can't get to the GUI, can you boot "Recovery Console"? If so, try the "Fix X" choice there, and then restart the system.

Note: Do not shut down a running Linux system by simply pushing the power button -- that is likely to cause filesystem damage. Here are two choices, if you have no GUI:

1. From the command line interface (CLI) aka "text mode", issue the command

sudo shutdown -r now

to restart, or to shut it down

sudo shutdown -h now

2. If you think it is "hung", press Alt and SysRq at the same time, and while holding them both down, press in deliberate sequence R, S, E, I, U, and B. The system will restart, unless, when you see it getting ready to show your BIOS splash, you push the power button.

[davinci314]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

I already tried everything in the recovery console. Fix X didnt do anything. Unfortunately, I did not know the force shutdown command, so I did eventually resort to the power button. If that did cause file system damage, can I repair it?

[13thSlayer]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

Well, if it did not start X(KDE, GUI, whatever) even before then damaged filesystem is hardly a problem. Also... Why is that code for forced restart so long and weird?!

[askrieger]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

Please take a look at this Wikipedia Article. I've been using this magic incantation for many years without knowing exactly what it did! BTW, as the article points out "Raising Skinny Elephants Is Utterly Boring", is the standard mnemonic for this procedure.

[Ole Juul]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

I am definitely an amateur, but still I've been reading a lot of stuff over the years and this is the first time I've heard about the magic key and raising skinny elephants. I saw dibl's post earlier and just gave it a blank stare, thinking that something meaningful would come up later. It did? Thanks for the wikipedia link askrieger. You guys are great!

Back on topic. I have done a lot of installs on miscellaneous machines and have often used the power button as a last resort. I have to report that, to date, nothing bad has happened. I know there is a danger, I'm just saying this to assure davinci314 that he likely didn't hurt anything by doing it.

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

I already tried everything in the recovery console. Fix X didnt do anything. Unfortunately, I did not know the force shutdown command, so I did eventually resort to the power button. If that did cause file system damage, can I repair it?

Yes, probably. It may be fine, since X wasn't running and there was probably not much queued data not yet written to disk. Another fsck will be in order.

So, "Fix X" gave no joy?

Hmmmm, there are two potential sources of your trouble, and I'm not sure which way to attack. Are you comfortable choosing the "console login" from the menu on the greeter? In other words, when you are presented the login screen, there's a little menu there, and if you click it there are some options, one of which is called "console login" (if I'm remembering it correctly). If you click that, then you go to a test login prompt, and you can login there. Do that, and then try these 3 commands there:

sudo chown swefal .ICEauthority

*

sudo chown swefal .Xauthority

startx

* where "swefal" is actually your user name on the system.

If it doesn't start the X server correctly, there should be error output on the screen, which may reveal more about the problem.

[davinci314]

Re: Kubuntu fails to start

Thank you dibl, that seems to have done the trick. I have no idea what I actually did by typing those commands, but I now have my kubuntu back. The skinny elephant trick should also come in in handy.
Thanks again,
Davinci314

[Snowhog]

Re: [SOLVED] Kubuntu fails to start

What dibl had you do, was change ownership (chown) on the two dotted files to your logged in user.